Sea Like A Mirror

At the heart of Sea Like a Mirror, is a newly commissioned artwork, White Horses, by Ivan Morison, from the collaborative practice of Heather Peak and Ivan Morison. Commissioned to mark the 200th anniversary of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), it is inspired by the profound legacy of their life-saving work and the special status its volunteer crews occupy in the collective consciousness of our island nation. 

This travelling work, housed within a unique, custom-made sculptural tent will be installed on the seafront, immersing audiences in the stories of RNLI crew and local people from around our coastline. Within this structure, Ivan’s new work, White Horses, will be screened using 16mm projection and accompanied by live music from local musicians, presenting a multifaceted portrait of the sea and the nation’s coastal towns, bringing together six diverse locations, each linked by the lifeboat station at the centre of their community.

Produced through a series of visits to lifeboat stations and seaside towns around the coastline, and in close collaboration with those who hold a deep connection to the water, the work explores the sea’s innate duality as a place of wonder and peril, and the myriad roles it plays for coastal communities.

“When I began this wintertime survey of the coast, I was looking for storms, and people who face that storm, people who have found a place in the service of the sea. I have met fishermen of lobsters and crab, farmers of oysters, I have seen where we build our nation’s nuclear submarines, and understood the changing economies of these coastal towns, I have been out to wind farms and watched blade technicians at work, I have darted between huge tankers with a sixth-generation skipper on his tug, and I have swam with those that swim and been saved by those that save. 

Yes I have found waves, sometimes there have been storms, but more than that I think I have found a changing but thriving coast populated by people with a sparkle in their eyes, doing remarkable things with an understated competence, and a lightness and joy. It’s this everyday preparedness, the ability to perform in extreme conditions, that I think I am looking for, and that perhaps the final work may illustrate. This is not a comprehensive survey, just an impression, the film an evocation of the spirit of these places and people.” – Ivan Morison

Artist bio:

Ivan Morison (b.1974) has established an ambitious practice that transcends the divisions between art, architecture, theatre and social practice; questioning what it means to be an artist in the 21st Century. His primary preoccupation has always been how we navigate catastrophe and the violence of change – from the wider collective view down to how individuals deal with moments of personal calamity. He is co-director of Studio Morison along with Heather Peak, an artist-led creative practice which supports and realises their ideas and the people they work with. Central to this work is the involvement with spaces of human coexistence and with the communities that occupy or may gather there. They categorise their work as a situated practice constructed from layers of social sculpture and sculptural space.

In each setting, White Horses will be accompanied by a series of commissions by local artists, made in collaboration with the area’s community in dialogue with Ivan’s central artwork. The two works commissioned and produced by Norfolk & Norwich Festival and created by local artists and children from the area are:

NEIL PARIS
SOS: SUPERHEROES OF THE SEA
Saturday 17 May, time TBC. North Lodge Park, Cromer

In a collaborative process, dance and theatre artist Neil Paris has been working with children from Sidestrand Hall School to create a short piece of dance theatre inspired by the RNLI’s anniversary. The resultant piece will incorporate drama, movement and music devised and composed by the young people themselves.

Free no booking required

KATE MUNRO
THE EDGE OF THE LAND
Wednesday 14 – Monday 26 May, 11am–4pm, Cromer Artspace

Artist and crew member on Sheringham Lifeboat, Kate Munro has been working with children to explore themes of the sea and local maritime culture through research and interviews with local people. The children created a series of artworks inspired by the place they live and the notion of rescue.

Free no booking required

Click here to find out more about this Festival Connect & Create project.